Will Celtic’s major shareholder Dermot Desmond ask Martin O’Neill to stay on as manager of the Parkhead club when he holds talks with the Northern Irishman this week?
Or will the billionaire financier thank the 74-year-old for all of his efforts during the 2025/26 season and inform him they will be bringing in a younger coach?
The fans who lauded O’Neill in the wake of a Scottish Gas Scottish Cup final victory over Dunfermline at Hampden on Saturday evening – a result which came seven days after a dramatic William Hill Premiership win and completed a domestic double – are desperate to find out the answer to those questions in the coming days.
But there is another possibility – the man who salvaged the Glasgow giants’ car crash of a campaign and became positively deified among their support as a consequence could turn down the chance to continue.
The former European Cup winner has repeatedly stressed that he is unsure what Desmond and his associates – who have been linked with two of their former players, Craig Bellamy and Robbie Keane, in recent weeks - are thinking about their managerial situation.
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However, he has confessed that he may decide to call it a day even if they are keen for him to return and spearhead their defence of the Scottish title and push for a place in the Champions League league phase.
“I could do, I really could do, I could do that, yes,” he said. “I haven't been offered it for a start so I don't want to pre-empt it. But if there was an offer, I would hope that Dermot would give me more than 10 minutes, as he did do in the first half of the season, in October.”
Asked if turning down Celtic would be impossible for him, he said. “No, I don't think so. No, I don't think that at all, I really don't. I've come back, answered a sort of call. It was exciting when it happened and it's over now, we've won.”
Asked if doing the double might be a good time for him to bow out, he said, “I wouldn't disagree. Of course, absolutely. Yeah, there is that. This has been a surreal experience for me, both times coming back.
“I have to think about that as well, really. I have to think it was lovely while it lasted, it was great, a bit of success. But then if we weren't winning, you have to think about that. And we may not you know, it's just not as easy as that. Yeah, I'd have to have a serious think about it.
“It's lovely to end up and think that you've proved something. But I'm never sure that you stop asking, ‘Can I keep on doing it? Is that still there? I think if I could clear my head and start again, I think could do it, but I wouldn't be really sure, not at this moment.”
There is, though, one thing O’Neill is absolutely certain about. He has been impressed by the assistance he has received from his backroom team Shaun Maloney, Mark Fotheringham, Stephen McManus, Gavin Strachan and Craig Dunbar and feels they deserve the chance to remain involved whoever is at the helm next season.
“I would hope that whatever happens, they would consider the coaching staff that I've had because they have been brilliant,” he said. “Shaun, Fozzie, Big Mick, Gavin and Craig, they’ve all been great helps to me.
“A new manager may want to bring his own people, but maybe that's something they could think about. But I don't know what's in the minds of the board at the moment. I'll find out.
“The board might even think about that, they may do, because Shaun and Fozzie have been terrific. Fozzie is just something else, really he is. When we were travelling back and forward together, he kept saying, ‘Yes, we're going to finish third!’ No he didn't! He kept saying, ‘We can do it!’
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“I don't know, maybe I'm talking out of turn here at this minute. But I'm sure now at this minute they might think about it or they might ask my opinion on the thing. They’re hugely capable. The players like them. I'm not so sure they like me, but that's beside the point.”
Whatever direction Celtic go in, the former Leicester City, Aston Villa, Sunderland and Nottingham Forest manager knows that directors have to act swiftly to ensure they can strengthen their squad with new signings and are in good shape for the start of the new campaign.
“I agree, absolutely,” he said. “They won't have a great deal of time. We're getting towards the end of May, the season starts again whenever it starts, the first week of August. So, yeah, they would need to start looking at things.”
Celtic’s failure to beat Kazakh minnows Kairat Almaty in the Champions League play-off last August incensed fans and a led directly to a partisan section of their support staging protests in the stands at their matches.
The members of the Green Brigade ultras’ group unfurled anti-board banners at Hampden at the weekend as their heroes landed their second piece of silverware.
O’Neill managed to galvanise a bitterly divided club – quite possibly his greatest achievement in football – and is hopeful that a besieged hierarchy will make the changes they need to in order to flourish in the modern game.
“I think it can calm down,” he said. “I think obviously there's lessons to be learned throughout the whole season. Perhaps sometimes if you don't see the challenges coming ahead, you can get maybe a little bit complacent about things.
“I think that's the great thing. Hearts will go strong again, Rangers I think are a really fine footballing team, a good side, strong as well. So there's plenty of challenges there for them. They have to think about that and they have to think about themselves as well.”
O’Neill has not given an awful lot of thought to himself in the past fortnight. He has been fully focused on landing silverware and has duly delivered. But it will be fascinating to see if he returns to Celtic for pre-season training next month of if decides to depart on a massive high with his legendary status assured.
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